obama and house speaker john boehner are due to begin negotiations friday on averting the so-called fiscal cliff of expiring tax cuts and automatic spending reductions set to take effect at the end of the year. speaking in washington, treasury secretary timothy geithner stressed the urgency of reaching a deal. >> i know the cliff is unattractive. it would cause a lot of damage to the american economy. a careful about those who argue and urge for "let's just extend while we negotiate." it will leave a different source of uncertainty on the table, like what would give the people the incentive to come back and do something tough. >> millions of workers in europe have joined a general strike today protesting the wave of spending cuts and tax hikes that has swept the continent in the name of austerity. spanish and portuguese workers are coordinating their strike with work stoppages also planned in greece, italy, france and belgium. we will have more on the strike after headlines. closing arguments have ended in a pretrial hearing to determine whether u.s. staff sergeant robert bales will face a